How You Remind Me
by The Elemental
Summary: *Shounen-Ai* A not-so-average sonfic done with Nickleback's "How You Remind Me" Heero+Duo. WARNING: Contains swearing and Drunken Homophobic Idiots. Nothing bad though. You have been warned.


A not-so-average song-fic pairing Duo and Heero. Features Nickleback's "How You Remind Me" Co-written with Shinigami-Myao.

Personally I think this song fits the two of them so well it's scary, and Shinigami agreed with me, hence the fic! Please R&R!

Peace, Love and Anarchy!

~The Elemental and Shinigami-Myao.

How You Remind Me

Duo punched Heero in the jaw. Heero's head snapped back, then returned to its natural position, face calm.

"How dare you?! How could you even say that?" His head dropped and he clenched his fists, staring at his feet. He eventually looked in to Heero's blank face, tears streaming down his face. "I can't do this anymore, Heero. I can't. I don't understand you anymore…I just don't!" He turned and raced for the door, grabbing his cap before stepping out into the pouring rain, not even stopping for a coat.

Heero stared down the hall and out the open door. "Duo…"

Soaked through the skin, Duo finally made his way down a set of stairs and into a tiny, smoke filled bar. Wringing water from his bangs, he slid onto a stool and glanced at the bartender. "Hey Jay."

"You haven't been here in a while. How're you feeling."

"Like shit. Give me something to drink…Anything hard."

"Sure thing. Problems of the heart?"

Duo shrugged and emptied his glass in one swig, then choked. "You could say that…Gah, this is horrible. Give me another, would'ya? I'm planning on getting too drunk to remember my own name." He caught the glass and grimaced, then drank deeply. "Keep 'em coming Jay. Keep 'em coming."

***

Heero cursed silently and wiped the back of his hand across his brow, clearing his sight for a few seconds as the sky continued to pour down. He'd hit seven bars and three churches, but Duo was nowhere to be seen. He'd assumed Duo would head for a bar to get drunk, unfortunately he'd yet to find him. Duo was someone who was next to impossible to find when he wanted to stay hidden, and Heero had the distinct feeling he was the last person Duo wanted to see at the moment.

***

"You know what Jay? Love's a bitch. Life's fine an' dandy, but love's…"

"A bitch?"

"Exactly. See, you know what I mean."

"I know you're drunk, Duo."

Duo glanced at the now-empty bottle of scotch. "Yep. I guess I am."

"So who's the source of your heartache? Hilde?"

Duo shook his head and smiled. "Nope, nothing _that_ simple."

"Heero then?"

Duo's head shot up. Apparently, he wasn't quite as drunk as he had hoped. "How'd you know? I never told you….I haven't been here in over a year…."

Jay laughed. "Duo, you've been stuck on that guy since you met him, or a little after. You were kinda blatant about it."

"I was?"

"Well, you weren't obvious, but you did bring him in for a drink once, when you two were wanted by OZ. You stopped to introduce him to me, then you two spent the rest of the night discussing, ok, arguing politics. I had to kick you out at closing, if you can remember." 

Duo smiled. "Yeah, I remember."

"You never touched your drink the whole night. Duo, you never bother to argue with someone for that long, you always give up after an hour or so, I've seen you do it a million times. You and Heero talked for almost _six_ hours! And I've never known you to leave a drink untouched, not in seven years. So I guessed. Apparently I was right."

Duo sighed. "You know what Jay? Drinking's _not_ doin' it this time. Any suggestions?"

Jay glanced at the small stage set into the far wall where a young woman was belting out a _very_ garbled version of "I Will Survive". "Why don't you take up the mike, for old time's sake? I know for a fact you can sing, even if you're drunk."

"Karaoke huh? What are you holding tonight?"

"Golden Oldies. Stuff from the 90's and 2000, just before the colonies were first launched." Jay slid a small read-out screen towards Duo. "That's the listing of what we've got. Pick something and let Kevin know, he's handling the set-up tonight." He motioned towards a tall, white haired man who was removing the singer from the stage and replacing her with a fat, balding man who must have been in his 40's. Grabbing the mike, the man began to do a pretty decent version of "Black Black Heart."

Glancing at the screen, Duo scrolled down until he found something that looked noteworthy. Standing, he made his way towards the tall man, hoping to get onstage sometime soon…

***

Heero walked down the back alley, pounding on the supply door until it opened. A rather bleary-eyed youth stuck his head outside. "You gotta go in the front man…besides, we're closed for the night. No more customers, we're full up."

Heero stared blankly at the youth. "I know. That's why I came back here. I'm looking for a friend, he may be inside."

The youth blinked. "Hold on a sec." He disappeared and shut the door. Heero considered knocking again, then debated breaking it down. His decision was made for him when the door re-opened, and another head popped out. "Who are you lookin' for?"

"Duo Maxwell. Is he here?"

"Yeah he's…Waitaminute, Heero? I really don't think he's in the mood right now…"

Heero stared directly into the face before him. "Look, Jay right? Duo introduced us…I've got to see him." He pushed sopping bangs from his face only to have them fall back into place a moment later. "I'm asking you to let me in."

Jay studied him for a long minute, then opened the door fully. "Come on in. You've got to be careful. You're walking on thin ice here, you know that."

Heero turned back to glance back at Jay. "Believe me. That's one thing I'm _quite_ sure of."

Jay laughed. "You really care about him, don't you?"

Heero remained silent.

"Don't worry bout it. Maybe I can help you out…"

***

Duo stepped onstage, blinking as the bright lights dimmed. The words were playing on the screen beside him, but he didn't need them. This was one song he knew quite well; Howard had a love of older music and made it a point to play something whenever he was repairing Deathscythe.

Taking a deep breath, he focused as the music began.

__

Never made it as a wise man

Couldn't cut it as a poor man stealin'

Tired of living like a blind man

Sick of sight without a sense of feelin'

And this is how you remind me.

Duo glanced over and saw Jay standing by the stage smiling, one very wet and scraggly-looking Heero standing beside him. Really not caring anymore, he turned to face them both.

__

This is how you remind me of what I really am

This is how you remind me of what I really am

It's not like you to say sorry

I was waiting on a different story

This time I'm mistaken

For handin' you a heart worth breaking

I've been wrong, I've been down

Been to the bottom of every bottle

These five words in me head scream

"Are we having fun yet?" 

Yet? Yet? Yet? No no. Yet? Yet? Yet? No no.

Duo stared mutely as Heero climbed onstage, mike in hand. He took up the second chorus, singing to Duo the entire time, ignoring the audience.

__

It's not like you didn't know that

I said I loved you and I swear I still do

And it must have been so bad

'cause living with me must have damn near killed you

And this is how you remind me of what I really am

This is how you remind me of what I really am

Duo once again took up the chorus, wondering faintly how Heero got here, how he knew the song, and _why_ was he onstage? Heero _hated_ doing anything this public…

__

It's not like you to say sorry

I was waiting on a different story

This time I'm mistaken

For handin' you a heart worth breaking

I've been wrong, I've been down

Been to the bottom of every bottle

These five words in me head scream

"Are we having fun yet?" 

Bouncing the chords off each other, they continued, each focused on the other, conveniently forgetting the rest of the world in the process.

__

Yet? Yet? Yet? No no. Yet? Yet? Yet? No no.

Yet? Yet? Yet? No no. Yet? Yet? Yet ? No no.

Duo took his solo, staring in wonder into Heero's eyes. Heero looked _happy_, happier than Duo'd ever seen him. And he couldn't help but ask why?

__

Never made it as a wise man

Couldn't cut it as a poor man stealin'

And this is how you remind me.

This is how you remind me

This is how you remind me of what I really am

This is how you remind me of what I really am

Heero joined in for the rest of the song, smiling at Duo the whole way through.

__

It's not like you to say sorry

I was waiting on a different story

This time I'm mistaken

For handin' you a heart worth breaking

I've been wrong, I've been down

Been to the bottom of every bottle

These five words in me head scream

"Are we having fun yet?" 

Yet? Yet? Yet? No no. Yet? Yet? Yet? No no.

Ignoring the applause and various catcalls from their audience, Heero took Duo's hand and lead him to an empty table. Sitting down across from him, Heero looked into Duo's eyes. "Duo, I'm sorry."

Duo searched for a reply but never had a chance to answer as Jay placed, ok, _slammed_ a bottle of champagne between them. "Good show guys, Drink's on the house." Jay turned and left, grimacing as he passed the stage where a duet was performing a _horrible_ version of "Bootylicious." Stepping behind his counter, he made a mental note to remove that song from the playlist for the next oldies night….

***

The bottle was all but gone, and Duo was, for once, the _more_ sober one of the two. This was not to say Duo was sober however…

"Wanna go home Heero? I think we're *hick* just about done here…"

Heero nodded mutely.

"You know what Heero? You're the only person in the world who gets _quieter_ when they're drunk…Except maybe Trowa…I've never seen him drunk yet, but I bet Quatre has…." 

They stood to leave when a voice echoed from behind them, loud in the quiet bar: Most of the patrons were heading home.

"Good….Those fags are heading home….."

Duo and Heero both turned to the table behind them, where the source of the voice poked out from behind a stack of beer bottles. His friend was desperately trying to convince him to shut up, to no avail.

"Tim, can it; it's AC 197! Not the 90's, God, you're such a hypocrite! You're drunk, stop before you end up getting us in trouble!"

Heero's fists clenched and Duo put a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Heero…."

"Look, he's got his bitch holding him back!" Duo stiffened.

"Tim, shut up!"

'Tim' stood up, managing to upset the bottles stacked in front of him. He stalked up to the pair, stopping inches from Heero's face. "You gonna make something of it? _Fairy_?"

It had always been accepted that Heero had a very slim, feminine build. Therefore, many, many people who had decided to start a fight with him found out the _hard_ way that his build hid a mass of muscle. Tim was one of these such people. He slammed his hands against Heero's chest, hoping to send him and Duo sprawling.

Big mistake.

'Tim' unceremoniously found himself against the wall across the room, Heero holding one arm across his neck and pinning him to the wall, the other poised to punch him, stopped only by Duo, who was struggling to hold his hand back. Heero's body was trembling with rage.

"Heero, Heero! Stop! You promised, no more killing. Heero!"

Tim's friend walked carefully up to Duo, avoiding Heero at all costs. "You're joking right? He can't kill Tim, can he?"

Duo didn't answer, just glanced at him before returning his attention back to Heero. 

"Holy Shit…."

"Come on Heero, let's go. You're both drunk."

Heero's head never moved, he stayed focused on the figure who was struggling vainly against his hold. "I'm not drunk."

"Ok, maybe you're not, but he is. Come on, let's go home, ok?" Duo felt Heero's fist relax and he released it, only to gasp in surprise as it slammed forward.

Everyone blinked as Heero pulled his fist from the plaster, leaving a hole that must have gone a foot into the wall. Shaking the plaster chips from his hand, he let Tim fall to the floor, where he wisely stayed. Duo threw an arm around Heero's shoulder, examining his fist as they walked out. "Damn Heero, you've broken half the bones in your fist, let's get you to a hospital before it swells too much." Duo glanced back at the still shocked Tim and friend, who was studying the hole in the wall in amazement. "Hey kid, you'd better keep your friend away from bars. It's gonna get him killed one of these days."

The amazed friend nodded mutely and watched as they left, wondering exactly _who_ those two were….And trying to figure out how he could work his way out of his weekly meetings with Tim in the bar…………………..

~Fin.

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